Olympian weightlifter Cara Heads attended the Capital City Open Weightlifting Championships hosted by the DC Weightlifting Club in April. This was our opportunity to watch some of DC’s women weightlifters compete and promote the Community Cinema presentation of STRONG! Cara appears in STRONG! with weightlifting Bronze Medalist Cheryl Haworth. ITVS Community Cinema [DC] will preview STRONG! Saturday, June 30 at 5 PM at Busboys and Poets (2021 14th Street, NW). Cara has enjoyed a successful, 18-year career as an Olympic-Style Weightlifter, traveling the world, earning 8 National Championship Titles, 2 American Records, 5 World Team Qualifications, and the highly coveted, athletic title of Olympian. Cara recently relocated to the Washington, DC area, and offers classes in Strength and Conditioning, Personal Training, and Coaching. The DC Weightlifting Club is a community partner for STRONG! STRONG! is also part of the ITVS initiative Women and Girls Lead. Special thanks to Michael Choi of DC Weightlifting Club for hosting us at the competition.
Recently, the Detroit Free Press reported that GM suspended production of the Chevy Volt for 5 weeks. Apparently, Volts were selling well, better than the Nissan Leaf, but not well enough. Then a few days ago, the Volt made news again. It won the European Car of the Year. What a break! However, it’s still iffy on whether GM will revive the Volt with it’s $30,000+ price tag. Lots of questions and speculation continue to circulate about electric vehicles making the electric car an object of mystery and myth.
You can see the Chevy Volt and judge for yourself this Sunday, March 11 at Busboys and Poets. A member of the Electric Vehicle Association of Greater Washington will display a 2011 Chevy Volt at 4 PM outside the venue as a preview for the 5 PM free Community Cinema screening of REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR. Busboys and Poets is located at 2021 14th Street, NW at the corner of V. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Dennis Dineen of the EVA/DC. Be prepared for myth busters and tons of information about energy and the benefits of having an electric car.
Another electric car will be parked outside the Q Street entrance of the Washington DCJCC March 18 for the 3 PM Community Cinema Cafe screening of REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR. The Washington DCJCC is located at 1529 16th Street, NW at the corner of Q.
Read a review of REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR by Alexander Blosser (that also promotes the Busboys and Poets screening) in the Washington Examiner.
DC is hosting a total of four screenings of “More Than a Month.” The first is this Sunday, February 12 with the DC Youth Slam Poetry Team (community partner) bringing their poetic perspective on the film at Busboys and Poets (2021 14th Street, NW). The remaining three screenings will include a Q&A with filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman. All events are FREE and open to the general public. RSVP where indicated.
Shukree will talk with the audience following a screening of “More Than a Month” at National Geographic (1600 M Street, NW) Tuesday, February 14 for their “Tuesdays at Noon” series. He returns to DC to attend the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) annual Black History Month luncheon Saturday, February 25. For anyone who’s seen “More Than a Month,” ASALH is one of Shukree’s first stops on his journey to find the answers about the meaning of Black History Month. ASALH is a community partner for the Washington, DC presentations of “More Than a Month.” Tickets for the luncheon should be purchased directly from ASALH.
E. Ethelbert Miller
Jacquie Jones
You’ve got less than a month to catch Community Cinema events for “More Than a Month” in DC and meet Shukree Tilghman. But more than a month to see his documentary on the PBS series “Independent Lens” broadcasting on WHUT Saturday, March 17 at 8 PM; Tuesday, March 20 at 10 PM. (Check local listings).
Community Cinema [DC] is happy to be working with Teaching for Change as a community partner for our January screenings of DAISY BATES: FIRST LADY OF LITTLE ROCK. Executive director Deborah Menkart, Jenice View (assistant professor of Educational Transformation at George Mason University), and Alana Murray are co-editors of the highly acclaimed education resource book Putting the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching. (photo: from L-R Jenice View, Alana Murray, Deborah Menkart)
Putting the Movement… is a collection of essays, articles, analysis, interviews, primary documents and interactive & interdisciplinary teaching aids on civil rights, movement building, and what it means for all of the inhabitants of the planet. With sections on education, economic justice, citizenship, and culture, it connects the African-American Civil Rights Movement to Native American, Latina, Asian-American, gay rights, and international struggles; while highlighting the often-ignored roles of women in social justice movements.. Packed into nearly 600 oversize pages are photographs, songs, statements, and work from the likes of such writers, historians, and activists as Bill Bigelow, James Loewen, June Jordan, Grace Lee Boggs, Herbert Kohl, Bayard Rustin, Rita Dove, Malcolm X, George Jackson, Ward Churchill, Leonard Peltier, Thurgood Marshall, Gwendolyn Brooks, Elizabeth Martinez, Sonia Sanchez, Eric Foner, Marcus Garvey, Manning Marable, and dozens more.
Julian Hipkins is the 11th grade social studies teacher at Capital City Public Charter School. Hipkins is using Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States as the text for his American History class.
Deborah Menkart, Jenice View and Julian Hipkins will be guest speakers following the Community Cinema screening of Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock Saturday, January 21 at 5 PM (Busboys and Poets); Menkart, Hipkins will lead the discussion after the screening Sunday, January 22 at 3 PM (Washington, DC Jewish Community Center). Additional speakers are TBA.
Additional Resource:
Teaching for Change is a coordinating organization with non-profit publisher Rethinking Schools on the Zinn Education Project. One of the Zinn Education Project’s recommended civil rights resources is Warriors Don’t Cry, a memoir by Melba Pattillo Beals (one of the Little Rock Nine). Download a Teaching Activity PDF by Linda Christensen from this link. The PDF includes role play and writing activities for language arts and social studies on the Little Rock Nine, Brown v. Board, and schooling in general. Designed for use with the memoir, Warriors Don’t Cry. (FYI – you must register on the Zinn Education Project site to download the PDF.)
Community partners for the Community Cinema [DC] presentations of Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock
